Worker saved after sinking into grain at Dunnigan wheat silo

A worker was reported in stable condition after 37 emergency workers responded to his rescue from a Dunnigan grain silo Tuesday.

Twelve agencies from three counties, including eight fire engines, four chief officers, two rescue units and a REACH air ambulance and ground ambulance, joined forces to pull to safety the 26-year-old who sank chest deep into a grain void.

The silo was about one-third full of wheat when the worker fell into a soft spot and his two co-workers were unable to free him.

Emergency workers from the Dunnigan Fire Protection District responded to the Adams Grain storage silo in Dunnigan, across from the Dunnigan General Store near County Road 89, and called for mutual aid once they realized it was a confined space entry, according to Yocha Dehe Fire Chief Gary Fredericksen.

Fredericksen said first responders secured and shut down the whole plant on arrival so no electrical motors were running when rescue commenced.

Chiefs Casey Cox of the Arbuckle Fire Department and Jeff Gilbert of the Williams Fire Protection Authority took command once on scene.

At 10:15 a.m. the rescue in the silo officially began as a team of two firefighters inside began shoveling and vacuuming wheat around the victim, while simultaneously protecting him with plywood to prevent more wheat from falling on him, Fredericksen said.

The man - who was unidentified - was pulled from the silo on a back board at 1:06 p.m., nearly three hours after rescue began. He was triaged at the scene, where his vital signs were found to be stable, Fredericksen said.